The Dutch tulip bulb industry in times of change : will the Netherlands be able to continue supplying the world with bulbs?

Sammanfattning

The tulip is the quintessential cut flower. Billions of tulips are sold all over the world with the Netherlands as the global centre. Tulips grown in greenhouses all over the world are forced from bulbs grown on Dutch fields. Throughout history tulips has been a lucrative crop. However, the market has been volatile with high risks and potentially great rewards for those involved. In recent times unreliable weather conditions, rising land prices, changing attitudes towards commercial farming and concerns over rising virus- and pest levels, and the control of them has added further risk to an already volatile industry. Through qualitative analysis of interviews with Dutch professional bulb growers this thesis seeks to identify what the main challenges facing Dutch tulip bulb growing industry, what are done to mitigate them and if the Netherlands will be able to continue supplying the world with bulbs. It identifies extreme weather conditions causing great losses in production of tulip bulbs. Combined with a rise in dangerous pests and virus and a lack of tools to combat them, the impact of climate change is decreasing the margins of error in an already highly competitive and low-cost focused industry. Adding to these challenges is Dutch legislation prioritizing a reduction of applied chemical plant production products and emissions from the agricultural sector over the growers need to protect their tulips from pathogen and pests. A frustration from the growers about the implementation of legislation causing problems for tulip cultivation is identified in the interviews. The growers give examples of legislation both leading to reduced access to land as well as potentially amplifying the threat of certain important pathogens. The growers’ high skill, knowledge, experience, and problem-solving ability, together with the sophistication of the world leading Dutch flower industry are identified in key strengths to mitigate the identified weaknesses and rising threats to tulip bulb growing. Key opportunities are identified as progress in breeding, technology, and plant protection as well a further globalization of tulip bulb production. This thesis concludes that the identified challenges and the damage they cause to the Dutch tulip cultivations will likely increase in the future, making it likely that the Netherlands will not be able to continue supplying the world with tulip bulbs in the future. A further globalization of tulip bulb cultivation is recommended to increase the long-term resiliency of global bulb production. However, it also recognizes that the Dutch growers and the Dutch tulip bulb industry will remain essential to global tulip cultivation at present stage as well as for the long-term future development the global tulip bulb industry.